Psychotropic drugs were used to control residents who didn't need them at a Kern Valley Healthcare District center, complaint alleges. Three people died.An an elder abuse case described by one investigator as the most outrageous he has ever seen, three former top managers at a Kern County nursing home have been arrested in the deaths of three residents who allegedly were given needless doses of psychotropic medications.
The state attorney general's office contended in a criminal complaint that more than 20 residents at a skilled nursing center run by the Kern Valley Healthcare District were drugged "for staff convenience." Many of them experienced side effects that included dramatic weight loss, slurred speech, tremors, loss of cognition and even psychosis, according to the complaint.
"These people maliciously violated the trust of their patients by holding them down and forcibly administering psychotropic medications if they dared to question their care," state Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown said.
All three have been charged with elder abuse. [Former nursing director Gwen] Hughes and [former chief pharmacist Debbi C.]Hayes, who are accused of administering shots by force and without consent, also face charges of assault with a deadly weapon.
Source:
Three Arrested in Nursing Home Deaths in Lake Isabella
See Also:
CANHR Report: Toxic Medicine
9 comments:
Great! Glad to see these people charged. In my opinion, there is little difference between holding them down and forcibly administering psychotropic medications and just giving it to them to swallow when they have dementia and don't know what they are taking. State Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown said that it was maliciously violating trust and it sure is! Perhaps even attempted murder!
This makes my skin crawl. Thank you AG Jerry Brown.
I hope these sadists spend the rest of their miserable lives in prison -- with mirrors all around them so they have no way to escape seeing themselves for their ugliness every minute of every day.
Few are charged for this crime. I watched out family member die a slow painful death from starvation and dehydration while on psychotropic medicatins which were not needed.
This is how they control the residents by putting them in a zombie state on their way to deaths door and none of this ever shows up on the death certificate or in the records which contain false information to fool the reader of the records.
I was there, I know what I saw and I have the fraudulent nursing home records.
Remember, it is not uncommon for drugging to be accomplished in secrecy, drugs can and do find their way into the targets food.
These people who got caught need to be punished severely - no mercy and no forgiveness.
Three people died, how many suffered?
The perps, when convicted, deserve life in prison - no parole.
How could anybody be this cruel?
www.cchr.org
I agree with Wondering -
life without parole!
These creeps should be locked away forever, and an example made of them so that other nursing homes will be leary of doing the same. I am suspicious of the "retirement" home my loved one is in. Everyone is so passive and sleeps all the time. But, of course, the guardian will not tell us the medication they are being given.
Charges in one case out of a million. Well, I guess it's better than nothing.
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